Thread: Wedding Pens ?

Paris well scored hope it works out.

Pricing I know is ARPIA.

I have leaned the hard way what I want is my price, if those who are selling want a % let them add that themselves even if your tagging the item.

hey pariss
i done this set ,they are JR GENTS and the aly ivory and jet black blanks from timberbits and put in a case as a set im charging $120 for the set

Pariss

I asked a few people on here some time ago about pen prices. From there I worked out my price. Have a look at the pricing on my website (below) and it will give you an idea. Then let her add her mark up.

Originally Posted by plantagenon

Pariss

I asked a few people on here some time ago about pen prices. From there I worked out my price. Have a look at the pricing on my website (below) and it will give you an idea. Then let her add her mark up.

Thanks Greg for the pricing info. Love your web site. Super photography and nice and simple to navigate and inspect your quality stock.

Steve

I checked out the transfer punches you bought from McJ and ordered a set too. They will come in handy for me.

Greg

Hey greg I just checked out your website and it looks great but I was a little unsure of the last pen (the Sierra) at $145.00 for a huon pine ? Is that correct ?

Cheers Ian

Ian

I wondered why I had no takers . A keyboard error I will fix tonight. I have to get all the pens re-photographed again as I am not happy with them and I have a lot more pens to add to it now. Don't know why I bother as there are no hits on it. I have to get it up to the front page of Google somehow.

Greg

Parriss don't undersell yourself as the on seller will mark up by 100%. I have had pens in numerous shops on consignment and the mark up has always been 100%

Count it all up and multiply by 3 and you will be on the money

Wedding pens always get a higher price from my experience

Pariss,
Assume you start at $0.00 money spent and no pen kit or blank
For basic business accounting always start at $0.00 so you can account for money out and money in, basic two column book keeping .
Now, for simplicity sake, let’s say you spent $10.00 on a kit and blank.
So now you are< $10.00> to the negative.
If you sell the pen for $20.00, you make back the $10.00 which brings you back to $0.00, plus $10.00 "profit.
So to make a new pen, you now have to spend the $10.00 profit you just made, which brings you back to $0.00 cash profit, although you do end up with a pen to sell.
$0.00 start.
<$10.00> out
+$20.00 in
= $10.00
Buyy a new kit and blank
$0.00 profit plus a pen.

Do the math with $30.00 as the asking price, and
Start at $0.00
Spend< $10.00> on kit and blank.
Sell for $30.00
End up with $20.00 "profit"
Spend <$10.00 >on new pen kit and blank,
This leaves you $10.00 profit and a new pen to sell.
Or two pens to sell if you spend all your profit on more kits, at $30.00 each, which allows you to increase your inventory or profit.
Basic rule of 3 for mark-up to retail from wholesale.
I used to own and operate an auto parts store,
X 3 was and still is the standard mark up for most retail stuff.
Basicly, always charge enough to replace what you sold (re-stock)and have money left over.

I made these for a friends wedding. I have also made some sets to sell and put a price of $250 for the set on them. If I were to be buying the kits and boxes in bulk then I'd probably put a wholesale price of around $200 on them.

I don't see why you couldn't buy the kits and boxes in bulk and expect $200 with the shop selling them for $300. A good markup for them, you will do well out of it and it's a price that a lot of people wouldn't even think twice about.

Just my thoughts anyway


Corbs

Very logical figures Ed. But it doesn't allow for labour, tool wear and replacement, CA, sandpaper, MM, polishes, power, and so on. So a Sierra won't really return a profit unless you have it for sale at around $40 - $45 which is around $35 more than the kit and blank and $15 more than the X3 rule. At $45 it is still a cheap pen for someone who wants a quality product. Still even with a $10 profit on a pen there won't be too many Bill Gates or Kerry Packers made from this craft.

As we all know its done more from a labour of love and satisfaction in creating a work of art and its nice to be financially compensated for our efforts to a degree that we can at least continue the craft without having to dip too deeply into the pockets. Having said that maybe everyone is undercharging. Just look at the exorbitant price of a mass produced Waterman, Sailor or Mont Blanc and the number of people who are prepared to pay top prices for them.

Thanks again guys for all the terrific info. Looking at the prices of some of the wedding junk in this huge wedding specialty shop is really flabbergasting !. Four years ago when my daughter got married, We blew around $6000.00 on frilly tizzy wedding bling and junk from this shop. Glad I only have one daughter

Greg,
True, but again, I was using a $10.00 figure as an example because it keeps the process simply to see.
The reality is you pay for your overhead cost, labor, tools, rent, insurance and such out of the last $10.00 profit.
The truth is, if we actualy charged a reasonable price for our labor, say $15.00 or $20.00 per hour, then even the least expensive slimline would start out around $50.00 or so retail!
The Rule of Three is rooted in a volume sales enviroment, the idea being you can charge a little less if your selling a lot more product....which is how most grocery stores operate, they survive on a 1 to 2% margin, which means they sell a whole lot of canned beans to make money!
Of course, the opposite is also true, you can charge a little,(or a lot) more if you are selling an exclusive product to a select set of clients on a limited basis.
If your concern is to cover your fixed cost, labor, rent, sandpaper, glue, all that, then you have to determin how many pens you can glue up with a bottle of CA, how many pens will my MicroMesh finish before it needs replacing, how many pens can the carbide insert do before it needs replacing, all that fun stuff.
I actually did that years ago, and was pleasently surprised to discover that, because I buy in bulk and get a discount, my fixed cost per pen was less than $5.00, (we left out the labor cost because this is a home business operated by one or two people, and all true profit is split between them, thus covering the labor overhead)
Myself, I tend to look at what we do as more art than business, and I like to think that the pens we make should sell at whatever the market will bear, so for some of the creations I have seen here, $300.00 isnt outlandish at all.
The buyer isnt paying simply for a product, it not like they really can comparision shop, but instead is also paying for the artistic talent that went into creating the pen, said pen being a unique one of a kind creation...

Don't forget to find a great engraver so you can offer the custom engraving and charge a premium for that too.

Pete